SIR – Regarding your special report on Cuba (March 24th), American policy towards the country has been hijacked by a small band of politicos and their wealthy patrons in Florida. The pathetic, five-decade-old American embargo on Cuba has failed and should be lifted, but not only for the reasons you mentioned. Cuba's substantial oil and gas resources in the deeper waters of the Straits of Florida are of paramount importance, and we need to co-operate if big disasters are to be avoided.

Beyond this, those sizeable oil and gas resources virtually guarantee energy self-sufficiency for Cuba by the end of this decade. It might even export energy in the next decade, making the American embargo even more meaningless and counter-productive.

Professor Luis Suarez-VillaUniversity of California, Irvine

SIR – You are encouraged by the small changes occurring in Cuba (“On the road towards capitalism”, March 24th). Yet the government relaxes its squeeze on the people when it finds itself in trouble, only to tighten its grip later. If the economy and the people are unproductive it is because that is how the government has made them. And how will Cubans buy land, houses, cars and mobile phones if they have no money for it all?

Oswaldo LastresChicago

SIR – Allowing Cubans to run “bonsai companies” hardly qualifies as revolutionary, considering that the regime has set clear and narrow limits to the scope of microeconomic reforms and refuses to consider any macroeconomic ones. In this light, claiming that Raúl Castro's timid reforms look “like a turning point similar to Deng Xiaoping's revolution in China” sounds like a wild exaggeration.

Moreover, placing the onus for a successful transition in Cuba on a change in American policy is overly simplistic and plays into the excuses of the Cuban regime for its unwillingness to take meaningful economic and political steps.

Sebastian ArcosMiami

SIR – I take exception to your assertion that “the Castro brothers themselves have always lived simply”. Privilege is a relative concept. If one compares the dictators' lodgings with the White House, Buckingham Palace or the Elysée Palace, it would be fair to conclude that their residences are unpretentious. But if the comparison is between their quarters and the average Cuban, and what he gets from his ration card, then the Castros live in the Taj Mahal.

Domestic investment has been driven down by the government's fiscal policy. By increasing interest rates to around 16% and by directing banks to focus on financing export-oriented industries the government has been relatively successful in turning deficits into surpluses.

And although inflation is still running high it should fall to relatively lower levels in 2012. One factor attributed to high inflation was the near 10% devaluation in the dong against the dollar in early 2011, and this in turn was caused but the then significant current-account deficits. The positive trade news and lower inflation should allow the government to reverse its fiscal policy and interest rates will be cut and finance will flow back into the domestic sector.

Foreign direct investment has also dropped some 70% since its heyday in 2008. Vietnam should certainly be attracting more FDI and structural reform would facilitate an increase to investment. Vietnamese laws are becoming more flexible and less prescriptive, though there remains much to be done to increase productivity and thus attract greater foreign investment.

I think that the fiscal measures instituted by the government have been both tough but effective and I expect that Vietnam will see a return to better GDP growth by 2013.

SIR – Lexington claimed that “America has a polarised Supreme Court” (March 31st). According to the most recent data published by the Harvard Law Review, the court's terms between 2005 and 2009 produced more unanimous opinions than 5-4 splits, the exception being the 2008 term which had 25 of each. I am sure that there are instances when ideology seems to be playing a role in the court's opinions, but more often than not the justices are in agreement on the questions presented to them.

John AblanNashville, Tennessee

Denial of care for wounded in Syria

* SIR – Regarding the situation in Syria (“No easy fix”, April 7th), the International Association for Trauma Surgery and Intensive Care (IATSIC) was founded to promote improvements in the care of the injured worldwide. In the past we have focused our activities on surgical research and training and not political advocacy. However, the events in Syria force us to speak out. In particular, reputable groups such as Amnesty International and Medecins sans Frontieres have documented widespread abuses involving the care of injured persons, including protesters and civilian non-participants.

These abuses include denial of care within government hospitals of those suspected to be protesters, torture inside government hospitals, denial of access to hospitals for wounded civilians and the blocking of medical supplies to private hospitals that treat wounded civilians. Many have died from wounds and probably many of these deaths could have been prevented by appropriate care.

Such a widespread and systematic denial of medical care to wounded civilians fits the definition of a crime against humanity.

We are in awe at the dedication and bravery of those members of our profession and other health-care workers who have set up clinics in their homes and cared for the injured under the most austere of conditions. We realise that many have paid dearly for their dedication, with 300 reported arrested up until October and many more since then. We read with horror the accounts of torture of detained doctors, and the possible executions of some of these courageous doctors tending to those in need.

Although the massacre in Bab Amr has taken place, similar events are continuing throughout Syria. We also note that Human Rights Watch has accused rebels in Syria of injustice towards human rights, which likewise cannot be excused. We call upon all parties in the Syrian conflict to respect the rules of law and human rights. We call upon our own governments and the governments of other all countries to speed the necessary actions to halt the fighting and to bring anyone responsible for abuses to justice. Until that time, the Syrian government must give all wounded full access to medical care and cease the repression of health care workers caring for the wounded.

SIR – There needs to be an honest debate about the meaning and purposes of trademark protection (“Shut your kale-hole”, March 24th). Most people probably would agree that Chick-fil-A's claim to own the phrase “eat more”, is, in your words, “a bit greedy”. Unfortunately, trademark law has shifted from its original purpose of protecting consumers from confusion about the sources of goods and services towards protecting the trademark owner's investment in its reputation, and treating the trademark as “property” rather than as a tool that supports market efficiency.

However, the term “trademark bully” can be misleading because the battle is not always about big business versus the little guy. The range of targets runs the full gamut, from non-profit organisations to big multinational companies. If more cases were fought fairly we would at least see more clearly the boundaries of trademark protection. Sadly, it will not restore the enterprises that have disappeared or the faith that has been lost in the legal system.

Sharon GobatAttorney at lawNeuchâtel, Switzerland

Password genies

SIR – You wrote about the problem of memorising online passwords (“A security patch for your brain”, March 24th), but one thing you did not discuss is the proliferation of websites that demand a password to protect your account or information. I have 200 different passwords for the various accounts and websites that I use and they are impossible to remember. That is one reason why people use the same password on multiple websites, which reduces security. A solution is to use a programme to manage password information. There are several on the market that will retain your passwords and generate new ones using a random number and letter generator.

Philip AuchinclossPontlevoy, France

SIR – Although I was delighted to see “correct horse battery staple” used as an example of a passphrase in your article I was dismayed at the lack of credit given to Randall Munroe, who popularised that particular phrase on xkcd, his webcomic.

Graham McGillivrayHalifax, Nova Scotia

SIR – The most effective way of creating secure passwords is to personalise them. Rather than using generic phrases such as “Too much food and wine will make you sick”, personalised phrases such as “I prefer Marcel Proust to Victor Hugo” (1pMP2VH) are much easier to remember and harder for hackers to guess. I haven't read either author's works, so you will not have much success if you use this phrase to guess my passwords.

John WoodCheltenham, Gloucestershire

Comparative democracy

SIR – You criticised Hong Kong's “election” (even putting it in inverted commas) for the governing chief executive as undemocratic and “the worst system, including all the others” (March 31st). Granted, it was not a popular vote, but at least the candidates were all Hong Kongers, as are the 1,200 members of the election committee. Before the 1997 handover, Hong Kong's governors were appointed by Britain. Is Hong Kong's system now really the worst, including all the others?

Charles TamNew York

Unbelievable

SIR – A recent issue of The Economist (March 24th) showed an Orwellian enthusiasm for the prefix “un”. I counted “un-Tory”, “un-Downton”, “un-Italian” and “un-Einsteinian”. How very unimaginative, and how very unEconomist.

Adam DaltonLondon

A minor historical oversight

SIR – In your review of books on American foreign policy (“Please don't go”, March 24th), you wrote that “no combination of nations has felt the need to join together to counter America's power”. Warsaw Pact, RIP.